[0:00] Our passage today is John chapter 6, verse 1 to 40. Please follow along in your Bibles or on the screen.! If it's the Church Bible, it's page 837.
[0:18] After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias, and a large crowd was following him. Because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
[0:43] Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?
[1:02] He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.
[1:13] One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?
[1:26] Jesus said, Have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.
[1:41] So also the fish as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.
[1:53] So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.
[2:09] Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.
[2:28] It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.
[2:45] But he said to them, It is I. Do not be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
[2:56] On the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.
[3:10] Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread, after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
[3:23] When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
[3:38] Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal. Then they said to him, What must we do to be doing the works of God?
[3:55] Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. So they said to him, Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
[4:07] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
[4:22] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.
[4:33] Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
[4:47] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
[5:00] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. This is the word of God. Amen. Okay, great.
[5:13] Thank you, Albert and Karen. Hey, let's pray, and then we're going to dive into this passage. So join me in prayer. Father God, as we come to your word, we want to be fed.
[5:24] What a passage that tells us, Jesus, you want to feed our souls. God, we want to be fed by you this morning. We want to hear you speaking to us. God, we don't just want to hear interesting things.
[5:37] We don't just want a prep talk on how to get through life. We want God to meet with you, the living God, in your living word. We know, God, your word is living and active.
[5:48] It means you're present in your word, and you're doing stuff. So God, why don't you do stuff in our hearts? Why don't you open our hearts to see you, to feast in you, to delight in you, to savor you.
[6:03] God, we hear your invitation, and as I to come, those who are hungry and thirsty, to eat and drink. Lord, we want to respond to that. And so help us, we pray, in your good and gracious name.
[6:14] Amen. Okay, well, I forgot to greet you. If you are new to Watermark, my name's Kevin, and it's great to have you with us. Welcome. We are continuing to work through John's Gospel, and John's Gospel is all about belief in Jesus, how and why we can believe in Jesus.
[6:32] And you remember, at the end of John's Gospel, John actually tells us the whole reason, why he wrote this long book. These days, it might not feel long for us, but in those days, all the writing on papyrus, papyrus was very expensive.
[6:44] Why did John go through all this effort, and all this cost and expense? He tells us, I've written these things, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, experience life in His name.
[6:57] That's what John wants, and that's what we want. We want to encounter Jesus, and experience life in His name. Whether you've been a follower of Jesus for many years, or you are still a spiritual seeker, that's what John wants, and that's what we want.
[7:10] And so today, we are in chapter 6, and we're continuing our discussion. And like much of John's Gospel, there's a miracle, and what follows the miracle is a teaching, a discourse, a discussion.
[7:24] And like much of John's Gospel, the miracle is not the main thing, actually the discussion, the teaching that follows, is what John really wants us to focus on. And so, let's take a look and see what happens here.
[7:36] Now, the context is important. Context is everything, right? And so, look at what John tells us in verse 4. He says, Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
[7:47] That's really important. In John's Gospel, many of these chapters, all revolve around a different feast. And the feast informs what's the message, what's going on here.
[7:57] And so, in chapter 6, it's all about the Passover. Now, what is the Passover? The Passover was the most sacred and momentous celebration in the history of Israel.
[8:09] It was the main feast that everyone would celebrate. It's kind of like Lunar New Year for us Asians, right? Everyone would gather and come together. Us Asians, you know.
[8:21] Why is that so funny? Don't I look Chinese? Right? Okay. You Asians, fine. For us Asians, okay, so Lunar New Year, it's when everyone gathers together and they celebrate God's deliverance.
[8:36] In their case, out of Egypt, deliverance from Egypt. You'll remember, the reason is called the Passover, is God's people were slaves in Egypt and God's judgment comes on their enemies, the Egyptians, but His judgment passes over God's people.
[8:50] And so they are saved, they're delivered, they are then rescued, they leave Egypt. And when they leave Egypt, the Exodus, they then pass through the sea, the Red Sea, on dry ground.
[9:02] They go into the wilderness and they're fed in the wilderness with bread on the way to the promised land. And God provides them and cares for them. And as they come out of Egypt, this Passover is the defining feature of the nation of Israel.
[9:17] It's kind of their national identity. Later on, God says to him, two things must happen. You must reset your calendars. This is the first month of the first year of your new nation.
[9:27] It's kind of like as a nation, you've been reborn. But the other thing he says is this. He says that every Israelite must, this is a statutory holiday, every Israelite must celebrate Passover and no foreigners are allowed to celebrate it.
[9:41] Because this is what it means to be the people of God, that I have delivered you, I've saved you, I've rescued you. God says, I am the rescuing, delivering, saving God. I'm the Exodus God.
[9:52] I'm the Passover God. And now John tells us it's the week of Passover or Passover is at hand. And so everybody's thinking about this. Everyone's preparing. Everybody's celebrating, getting ready to celebrate God's salvation, God's deliverance of his people.
[10:07] Now in this passage, I want us to think about three, think about in three sections. Okay. The miracles of Jesus, the call of Jesus or the challenge of Jesus and the promises of Jesus. Okay. Three very simple things.
[10:19] So let's dive in and look, the miracles of Jesus. So everybody's thinking about Passover and they're getting ready for it. But of course, Jesus is also a pretty big attraction.
[10:29] And so verse two says, a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs. That's the miracles that he was doing on the sick. And so crowds are following Jesus and it's been a long day.
[10:41] It's been a tiring day. They're all exhausted. And Jesus, knowing exactly what he's going to do, says to one of the disciples who's from that area, Oh, Philip, by the way, can you just make sure we've got enough food to feed these 5,000 people?
[10:55] And it's a ridiculous question because they don't have enough food. There's no shops nearby. They're in the wilderness and they don't have enough money for it. And so Philip is a bit stomach.
[11:06] He has no solution and they don't have enough food or money. And one of the disciples, Andrew, it comes up with a rather silly idea. He says, Oh, I saw a boy who brought his lunchbox.
[11:17] He's got five loaves and two fish. But then he quickly concludes, what are they for so many? And Jesus performs this amazing miracle. He feeds more than 5,000 people.
[11:28] When it says 5,000, that was probably counting. 5,000 men means 5,000 households. So maybe 10, maybe 15,000 people. Jesus feeds them and there's abundant leftover. And as someone in our CG said recently, the point of this is that Jesus provides abundantly in scarcity.
[11:45] And so the people start to make the connection. Verse 14, they say, when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who's come to the world. They're putting two and two together and they're saying, this guy must be some kind of Messiah.
[11:59] Maybe he's the Messiah, the one we've been waiting for. But the problem is what they think a Messiah means is a political Messiah. A Messiah is going to come deliver them from their enemies, the Romans, and bring freedom to Israel.
[12:11] But that's not who Jesus is. That's not what he's come to do. So look at verse 15. It says, perceiving then they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, Jesus withdrew to the mountains by himself.
[12:23] So Jesus evades their attempts to crown him as king and disappears into the mountains. And then Jesus sends his disciples across the lake. He wants a night just in prayer with his father.
[12:34] So he sends the disciples across the lake on the other side while he spends time alone. But in the middle of the night he does the second miraculous thing. He literally walks on the water. The gospel calls it the sea, the Sea of Galilee.
[12:47] He walks across it and the storm-tossed waves, there's chaos all around and Jesus goes to the disciples and they're petrified and they think it's a ghost. And Jesus says, do not be afraid, it is I.
[12:58] And they take him into the boat and immediately it says they received him into the boat and their hearts were glad to take him in and they are on the other side.
[13:10] Now, did this really happen? Well, the Bible claims that it really happened. We shouldn't just read this poetically or allegorically. The Bible claims this happens. And that, of course, is only true if Jesus really is who said he is.
[13:21] And that's part of the point. This is a very unusual story. I don't know how many of you have walked on water. I certainly have not. But the point is this should make us sit up and think, who is this man?
[13:32] Who is Jesus? That he can do these kinds of things. And, of course, the claim of the Bible is that he's not an ordinary man. He is unusual. He is nothing less than the Son of God. And that's part of what John wants us to think about.
[13:45] But why are these miracles? And why are these miracles at this point in time? What is John wanting to show us? What is the message that John wants us to see? John's told us that it's Passover.
[13:57] But how do these connect? Let's think about this. Passover is a time when God's people are ready to celebrate God's great big rescue of them from their slavery, from their Egypt.
[14:08] He brought them out of Egypt. He caused them to cross the Red Sea on dry ground. And then he fed them with bread in the wilderness. And here there are three elements to Passover.
[14:18] There's the Passover lamb who's going to die so they can be saved. There's the crossing the Red Sea in the wilderness. And there is the feeding crossing the Red Sea and dry ground and then the feeding in the wilderness.
[14:30] And Jesus is pulling all these strings together and he's saying, can't you see I am the Passover God? I'm going to walk on the water in a sense dry ground.
[14:41] I'm going to feed you in the wilderness. There's one element that's missing. That's the Passover lamb. That's going to come a little later. But Jesus is pulling in all the elements of Passover, all the things that are in the back of their mind that they're thinking about.
[14:52] And Jesus is saying, this is me. I am the Exodus God. I'm the rescuing God. I'm the saving God. I am the great I am. Remember the Exodus is God's great signature accomplishment.
[15:05] Right? It's the one thing that defines him throughout the whole of the Old Testament. Almost every chapter is remember the Exodus. Remember how I saved you. Remember how I delivered you. I am the saving God.
[15:16] I'm the rescuing God. I'm the Passover God. And Jesus comes and says, this is me. I am the rescuing God. I'm the Passover God. Jesus will later say, I'm the Passover lamb, the one who will die for the sins of the world.
[15:30] And Jesus says, I'm the one who will bring you through the sea. I'm the one who will provide for you in the wilderness. I'm the one who will bring you to the promised land, the other side. Except they don't quite get it, do they? So look at verse 22.
[15:42] They don't quite understand. And so the next day they come to him. They are looking for him. And they say, Jesus, where are you? How did you come here? Verse 25. And Jesus, verse 26, says to them, truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw the signs and therefore believed, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
[16:01] And this really is the heart of the problem. Jesus is diagnosing their problem. Why do they misunderstand him? Well, the reason is because Jesus says, you coming to me to have your physical needs met, you coming to have your material needs met, you coming to me because you were hungry and I filled your stomachs, but actually, so now you're coming back for more, but what you've missed is that's not what I'm about.
[16:23] I'm wanting to just, not just meet your material needs, your hunger, I'm here to meet your real need. I'm here to meet your spiritual need. Jesus says, you coming to me to do, just to help you get along in life, but I've actually come to do for you what you cannot do for yourself.
[16:39] I'm here to save you. I'm here to rescue you from death. I'm here to give you life. Jesus says, you coming to me because, not because you saw the signs and believed, but because you ate your food, your stomachs were full of food.
[16:54] And so verse 27, Jesus says, do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. Food that I can give you. And that's Jesus' point.
[17:06] Jesus says, you can come here all day. I can provide for your needs. I can give you food. I can give you drink. I can give you a job. But that won't last because I'm not just the bread and water God.
[17:17] I'm the Exodus God. I haven't come just to provide for you materially. I've come to provide for your greatest need, your deepest need. I've come to save you deeply. And friends, that's just as challenging for us in 21st century Hong Kong as it was in first century Israel.
[17:34] The area where Jesus was, Capernaum, it's up north of Israel, it's a rather poor area. They are living by subsistence farming, kind of hand to mouth. They are working the ground to getting their food and eating of it.
[17:47] It's not a very wealthy area. And here are people, they are working hard, and here comes a miracle worker, and they're thinking, here's somebody who can rescue us from hard work. Finally, somebody has come that can give us food.
[18:00] We don't need to work the ground that hard. Someone can save us from this back-breaking work. Finally, the gods are shining down on us. Jesus, the miracle worker, can come and solve all our problems.
[18:12] And Jesus says, that's not who I am. I'm not the genie in the bottle. I am the son of God. And Jesus hasn't come just to relieve us. He's come to rescue us from our sin.
[18:23] Jesus says, I haven't come just to serve your needs. I've come to save you from hell and judgment forever. Jesus says, I haven't come just to lift you up. I've come to give you a whole new life.
[18:35] Will you believe in me? And this is the call. This is the challenge of Jesus. That Jesus, yes, he's a miracle worker. Yes, he's powerful. Yes, he can solve our problems. But will we come to him for the real reason why he's come to us?
[18:48] Not just to lift us up and improve our lives, but to save us. And here are people that are seeking out Jesus because they want the blessing, not because they see the great need for him.
[18:59] Friends, we can do the same. We want a job. We want to get into a decent college. We want our kids to get into a decent college. We want a spouse. We want to fall pregnant and have children.
[19:12] We want that promotion. And so we serve and we work and we come to church and we give and we do all the things and then we say, okay, Jesus, I've played my part. Where's my miracle? And Jesus says, that's not who I am.
[19:24] That's not how I've come. Jesus says, I'm not the get into college, God. I'm not the find a spouse, God. I'm not the full pregnant, God, as good as all those things may be.
[19:36] I'm the rescuing God. I'm the saving God. I'm the Passover God. I am the Exodus God. I am the great. I am. And David actually wrestles with us in Psalm chapter four.
[19:47] In Psalm four, David writes this. He says, there are many who say to us, who will show us some good? Why don't you lift up the light of your face upon us, oh Lord? So, so David says, there are many people and, and things are hard and they cried and they say, God, where are you?
[20:03] We, we thought you meant to be good. Well, why don't you save us? Why don't you give us a blessing? Why don't you give us a job? Why don't you lift up the light of your face upon us? Oh God. But David says that I've come to see that's not who you are.
[20:16] I've come to see you. The God who's come to bring light into the darkness, joy in the midst of anguish, life in the place of death, salvation in the place of lostness. And so David says, verse five, but you, O God, have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and their wine abound.
[20:34] Their grain can abound, their wine can abound, their stocks can go up, their investments can overflow, that they can have everything going well, but that's not the main point of life. You've put a joy in my heart.
[20:45] You've put a satisfaction. You've put something in my heart that exceeds even all the material blessings of this world. God, you've put a joy in my heart that exceeds them even when their grain and their wine and their stocks and investment abound.
[20:59] For in peace, I will both lie down and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Jesus says, don't come to me for temporary blessings. Come to me to be rescued, to be healed, to be given new life.
[21:12] I am the rescuing. God. Now, what does that actually mean? So Jesus says, come to me. But what does that mean? Well, look at what he says. Look at verse 27. Jesus says here, do not work for the things that perish, but for the one thing that will last forever, the thing that only I can give.
[21:28] And they say, so what must we do to be doing the works of God? And that is a great question. Jesus offers us new life and you say, okay, so what must I do?
[21:39] What is the thing that God requires? If there's one thing that God requires me, what must I do to be doing the works of God? I want to be saved. I want to be rescued. I want to experience God's blessing.
[21:50] What must I do? Friends, what should we do? But look at how Jesus answers. Verse 29, Jesus answered them, this is the work of God. This is the one thing that God requires that you believe in him whom he has sent.
[22:05] Friends, that's it. Just believe. No works required. No charity required. No giving of money. No certain number of days of church attendance.
[22:16] No sacrifices. No attending class. No attending CG. You want to be rescued. You want to be healed. You want to meet the living God. You want to experience life in his name.
[22:28] What must you do? Jesus says, there's only one thing. Believe. Believe in the one that he sent. And you will find life and life in his name.
[22:39] This is the work that God requires. Believe in him whom God has sent. But what does that mean? Well, obviously it means believing the facts, right, regarding Jesus.
[22:51] We spoke about that last week. Do the research. Examine the evidence. Question the eyewitnesses. Investigate the evidence. As we heard last week, examine what the Bible says.
[23:04] One cannot know God or experience God if you don't know, if you don't believe, at least come to some level of confidence in the historical claims that Jesus really is who he said he is. That he really did live and die and rise again.
[23:16] But when Jesus says you must believe in me, he means much more than that. It's certainly not less than that, but it's much more than that. What does Jesus mean when he says believe in me?
[23:28] Look what Jesus says in verse 35. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall not thirst.
[23:40] Jesus says, to experience life, you must believe in me and go on believing in me. What he means is not just simply believing the facts about Jesus, but in a sense, feasting on him, savoring on him, looking to him for sustenance and life.
[23:53] When I was at school many, many, many years ago, it was like in the 1990s, before some of you were even born, I had a good friend that was a very serious diabetic, type 1 diabetes.
[24:05] He always used to have a can of Coke with him wherever he went. In his lunchbox, he had a can of Coke. And some of the other boys in school thought it was fun to steal his can of Coke, right, out of his lunchbox.
[24:17] But it was actually very serious. Because being a diabetic, if his blood sugar levels dropped, it was obviously very dangerous. And he could go into a hypoglymic state, go into a coma, possibly even die.
[24:30] And so he always had this can of Coke with him in case his blood sugar levels dropped too quickly and he needed to get the levels up. And there were times from times he would have to do this, open this can and drink it to get his levels up to not only be okay, but maybe to even live, to revive him, to sustain him.
[24:49] Jesus says that you can go on living, but unless you're feasting on me, spiritually, your level's going to drop and you're going to die. To believe in Jesus is not just intellectual assent about the facts and knowing the knowledge, it's about feasting on him.
[25:05] It's about getting him inside of us so that we feast on him so that he sustains us. Well, think about this. Maybe you go out for a meal with a friend, right? You've had a long day at work, you're tired, you're exhausted, you're drained, and you meet a friend for a meal at dinner.
[25:22] And the food arrives and what do you do? You study it very carefully, right? And you look up what is the Hebrew word for dumplings and you analyze it and you do a Bible study on the food in front of you and you all go away and say, okay, what is the application of this?
[25:37] And then you leave the restaurant, right? And you've had a good Bible study. No, no, you don't do that at all, right? What do you do? You feast on the food, you eat it, you savor it, you devour it.
[25:50] And maybe you don't know what the calorie content is, but that's okay. You get the sustenance inside of your body because you need it to energize you, to sustain you, to invigorate you, to revitalize you.
[26:02] When God's people were in the wilderness, they were in deep trouble and God provided food for them to sustain them, to revitalize them, to keep them going. And they say here to Jesus, they say, Jesus, God provided bread for our fathers in the wilderness.
[26:18] He sustained us and Jesus says, you're on the right track. Okay, keep going, keep thinking. Yeah, what's the next logical conclusion? Listen, Jesus says, I am the bread. I am the bread that's come from heaven.
[26:30] Verse 49, later on he says, your fathers ate the bread in the wilderness and they died. But there is bread that comes down from heaven and the one that eats of it will not die.
[26:40] I, I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, anyone eats of me, if anyone believes in me, he will not die, he will live forever.
[26:54] Jesus says that to believe in him is to feast on him, to savor him, to delight in him, to, to get who Christ is into us so that sustains and invigorates and enlivens us.
[27:09] And so Jesus says to crowds and he says to us today, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Friends, believing in Jesus is not just intellectual assent, it's not just understanding the facts or agreeing with him or agreeing with the doctrines about him, it's actually coming to him in such a way that he feeds and sustains our souls.
[27:32] And so here's the question, are you believing in Jesus? Not just once off in 1997 you made a commitment, but today, are you feasting on him? Is he sustaining you spiritually? Is your soul alive and awake to him?
[27:46] Are you believing and feasting on Jesus? Friends, all of us here look to something, to someone, to trust in something, to sustain us, to energize us, to carry us through the journey of life.
[27:59] What is it for you? What is it that you're trusting in? What is it that you're believing in? What is it that you're hoping in? Jesus says, I am the bread of life. I am the one that has come.
[28:11] Friends, many of us here this morning would describe ourselves as followers of Jesus. Maybe you made a commitment to Christ once upon a time, got baptized, to join the church, but are you believing in him today? Is he sustaining you?
[28:23] Is he driving you? What is feeding your soul? Are you still feasting in Jesus? How are your spiritual blood sugar levels? Are you in cardiac arrest? Are you hyperglycemic?
[28:36] Are you suffering? Friends, I know from my own life, one of the things that I find so easy to do, and actually as a pastor, I find this particularly easy to do, is to go through the motions, to recite the confessions, to sing the songs, to do my devotions in the morning, and to go through the motions, but my soul is not feasting on Christ.
[28:56] And I can tick the box and say I've done it, but actually my soul is still dry. All of us have that temptation. Jesus says, come to me, come and feast on me. Now, practically, what does that mean?
[29:08] Well, two things very simply practically. How do we actually do that? To feast on Christ requires two things very simply. The first is this, to slow down enough to actually be with Him.
[29:21] I don't know if you've ever had this experience where you've been unbelievably busy at work and your work is crunching, you know, you crunching hours, work is crushing you, right? And you've been very busy and all your relationships start to suffer.
[29:35] So your friends no longer invite you out because you've turned them down the last 15 times, right? And your children no longer tell you what's going on at school because you haven't really been around for the last month.
[29:45] And your spouse just tells you where to be and at what time. They don't even discuss it with you because you don't have time to talk about things. Your spouse says, you've got to be at that appointment at 3 o'clock, right? And your life is so busy that actually your relationships suffer.
[29:59] There's no connection. You're just going through life doing your diary, your calendar. What's going on? You're so busy you've left your relationships behind. You know, in the ancient world, thankfully, they didn't have McDonald's or 7-Eleven.
[30:12] You couldn't go get a quick meal, right? To have a meal with somebody, to break bread with somebody was an evening long extended event. You would sit down and spend hours with each other talking and breaking bread and then some more bread would come and you'd break that further and you'd discuss and you'd share your life and you'd share your heart with somebody.
[30:33] Friends, Jesus says that to believe in Him means to feast on Him, to nourish our souls on who He is. But that means more than just a one-minute Bible study on the MTR. It means more than just scrolling Instagram and finding a verse somewhere and thinking I've had a devotion, right?
[30:46] That's not a devotion. To believe in Jesus, to feast in Him. But to feast in Jesus is to slow down enough that actually to be with Him, to hear Him speak to the real issues of our hearts, the challenges of our life, to meditate on His Word, to turn that into prayer.
[31:04] But here's the second thing it means. It means to open up enough to let Him in. Again, I don't know if you've had this experience where maybe you're going through a really tough time. There's some deep, deep, heavy things in your heart, things that are weighing you down, you're worried about, you're anxious about.
[31:18] And you go and you spend an evening with friends, okay? They eventually invite you despite the 15 rejections. and you spend an evening with friends and nobody asks you a single question.
[31:29] Nobody asks you how you're doing. They all just talk about themselves. Have you ever had that? And you've spent hours with your friends but you've come away and nobody knows what's going on inside of you. And you feel more lonely than before even though you've just spent an evening with friends.
[31:42] You ever experience that? In the ancient world, to break bread with somebody, to have a meal with somebody, meant not just letting them into your space, it meant letting them into your life.
[31:52] To have somebody in your home wasn't just letting them in your home, it was letting them into your heart. As you break bread and have a meal with somebody, it's communicating saying, I want a relationship with you. I want to know you and I want you to know me.
[32:05] That's why in the Gospels everybody's freaking out when Jesus keeps on having meals with all sorts of unsavory characters, right? He's having meals with tax collectors and prostitutes and political insurrectionists and murderers.
[32:16] And the religious leaders are saying, how can you welcome these people into your life? How can you have a relationship with them? You've got to reject them. You've got to kick them out because they know that to have a meal with somebody says, I want to know you.
[32:27] I want to know the real you. Jesus comes to us and he says, come. Come and feast with me. Come and eat of me. Come and drink. Come and sustain your soul with me.
[32:38] I want to know you and I want you to know the real me. Friends, it means having the real Jesus knowing the real you. It means processing our actual fears, our actual joys, our actual hurts, our actual desires, our actual pains, our actual agonies.
[32:54] Letting him in on those things and letting him speak to them. What must we do to be doing the works of God? Simply, believe in the one that God has sent. I, I am the bread of life, says Jesus.
[33:06] Whoever comes to me and feasts on me and eats of me will find life. The miracles of Jesus, the call of Jesus to believe and feast on him.
[33:17] Finally, the promises of Jesus, the wonderful promises. Look at how our passage concludes. Look at verse 35 to 40 with me. Actually, verse 36. Actually, let's make it 37.
[33:30] Look here. Jesus says this. All that the Father gives me will come to me. Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
[33:44] And this is his will, that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me, but raise them up on the last day. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.
[34:00] Jesus concludes this section with two wonderful, wonderful promises. First promise is this. If you come to Jesus, he will never chase you away. He will never turn you away.
[34:12] Friends, how many of us grew up being told either directly or indirectly that we were not good enough? How many of us were told that we were unwanted? How many of us were scolded and chased back and beaten, belittled, made to feel small, inadequate?
[34:29] How many of us were told to sort ourselves out, to fix our grades, to sort out our life and then come back to our parents? Jesus says that if you come to him, weak as your faith may be, all your issues, all your baggage, all your hurts, all your pains, weak, insecure, feeble as your faith may be, he says, I will never cast you out.
[34:55] I will never chase you away. I will never turn you down. Friends, that's amazing. Jesus experienced the type of rejection on the cross in our place that we never need to fear being rejected again.
[35:11] And if you come to him, weak and small as your faith will be, he will not turn you away. One of the things John Calvin says is he says, your praise, he says, our prayers are mixed with, are full of mixed motives.
[35:24] Self-centered motives, greedy motives, but don't worry, your God knows that and he loves you anyway. So pray anyway. Friends, when we come to Jesus, small as our faith may be, weak as it may be, mixed motives as it may be, Jesus doesn't come and say, come to me with perfect faith.
[35:40] Once you've sorted it all out and you've got all your issues behind you, then come to me. He says, come to me. I will never turn you away. What a promise. What a savior.
[35:51] What a king. Second thing, Jesus says this, if you come to him, he will never let you go. Look at verse 39. This is the will of the one who sent me that I should lose none of those he has given me, but to raise them up on the final day.
[36:05] And this is the will of my father that everyone who looks in the sun and believes in him shall have eternal life. I will raise them up on the last day. Friends, you know what that means? It means it's not your faith that's causing you to hold on to Jesus.
[36:18] It's Jesus' gracious or amazing grace that is holding on to you. And there are times when your faith is up and there are times when your faith is weak and there are times when you're doing well and there's times when you're not doing well. You are not holding on to Jesus as much as he's holding on to you.
[36:33] And when your faith is weak and when your faith is shallow and when your faith is not all that you hope it will be, Christ is holding on to you. He will not let you go. on that final day, those who believe in me, weak, small, insecure as their faith may be, I will hold on them and I will raise them up.
[36:51] Friends, let's not come to Jesus for material blessings. Those things will never truly satisfy. They will not last. You can have all the money in the world. You can have all the prestige or the power in the world.
[37:02] It will flee away from you. I remember hearing a story of a famous British author. I've forgotten his name. He sold like tens, probably even hundreds of books.
[37:16] He was a multi-millionaire in pounds, right? This is like in the 80s. One of the wealthiest people in Britain. He was in an interview one day and the interviewer says to him, what do you wish someone had told you as a young man it would be like when you got to the top?
[37:29] And his answer was, I wish someone had told me there's nothing there. Multi-millionaire, all the name, the prestige, there's nothing there. Jesus says, you want to feast on those things? It will not last.
[37:40] It will perish. Come to me. Come and believe in me. Let me satisfy you. Let me fill you. Let me rescue and deliver you. Come and feast on me.
[37:51] Fill your heart and your soul with me. And let me bring you home. Let's do it now as we come to him in prayer. Lord Jesus, you are infinitely awesome and infinitely gracious.
[38:01] God, we confess that the things of this world have their pull on us. And God, we so need you. We know we so need you. Jesus, come and help us. Lord, we confess with John Calvin.
[38:14] Our faith is weak. Our faith is small. Our faith is full of doubts. Our faith is insincere and with mixed motives. But God, you're so gracious. You will never turn us away.
[38:24] So thank you, Lord. God, help us to come to you now. Lord, I pray for those of us maybe that are spiritual seekers. Those that are wondering about faith. Wondering whether they can trust you. God, by your spirit, reveal yourself to us.
[38:36] Open the eyes of our heart. That we will see you and believe in you. And have life in your name. God, we pray these things in your wonderful and gracious name.